Diseases such as cancer are a leading cause of hospitalizations. In the United States alone, 250,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. For the majority of these cases, the disease is localized, and the available treatments include surgery, external beam radiotherapy, and brachytherapy. Approximately 36% of patients choose brachytherapy, which includes the use of radioactive sources or radiation sources placed close to, or within, areas of diseased tissue, and which is particularly beneficial in treating certain types of tumor, such as prostrate cancers.
Temporary brachytherapy is the placement of the radiation source for a short duration, typically several minutes or hours, before being withdrawn. Permanent brachytherapy, also known as seed implantation, is the implanting and positioning of small radioactive seeds in the tumor, positioned or spaced apart from one another using a spacer, and then permanently leaving the seeds within the patient, or until they are gradually absorbed by the body. The use of seeds and similar sources allows a relatively high dose of radiation to be precisely delivered to the treatment site, while minimizing radiation to surrounding healthy tissue. Brachytherapy can be used by itself, or in combination with other therapies, such as surgery or chemotherapy.
Brachytherapy is commonly used in the treatment of prostate cancer, sometimes together with systemic chemotherapy. Currently brachytherapy spacers (elements separating brachytherapy seeds) are smooth, cylindrical segments of bioabsorbable suture material. These spacers were originally made from catgut (ovine or bovine). Currently these spacers are made from bioabsorbable polymers. The spacers function simply as spacing elements to maintain the relative spacing between the treatment seeds, but have little other effect. This is the general area that embodiments of the invention are intended to address.